Vulcans = Space High Elves Romulans = Space Dark Elves

“I _hate_ sand. It’s course, and rough, and irritating, and it gets _everywhere.”_ - Surak of Vulcan

Ever considered doing an index for humans? I'm always interested in how the other races thinks of them in Star Trek's universe.

I think it's a neat idea that the Vulcans are actually, at the core of their being, more emotional than any other species in Star Trek.

Its a good thing that Vulcan suppressed their aggressive tendencies because the 1st contact could have been a invasion force rather then a peace force.

I love the Vulcans for their contradictions it's very nuanced

However, if a Vulcan were to fake emotion, they would be considered textbook psychopaths.

Finding a balance between logic and emotion sounds like something to strive for.

Vulcans are like cats.Desert creatures. Calm, detached but can instantly turn viscous, violent. Amazingly strong and adaptable but happy in their own company but able to bond with humans.

Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.

Vulcans seem very private when it comes to their age. They always seem to want to dodge or deflect the question.

I have something to say about Vulcan blood. Though most animals on earth have red blood, some have blue. The blue color is caused by the iron being replaced with copper. The Vulcans, however, have green blood. Some animals on earth also have green blood that has something similar sounding to chlorophyll replacing the iron. Since Vulcan is a hot and sunny-ass planet, it’d make sense for most life on the planet to make use of the extra sun, maybe by having everything performing photosynthesis to a degree. That’s just my theory to rectify a scientific inaccuracy. I’m most likely wrong but so was whoever decided the green blood thing.

Weird to think that a time that was once considered so far in the away that a futuristic sci fi show used it as a setting, is now a mere 43 years away.

Breen, go with the Breen next.

Well done! There was an article some years back (an "interview" with Spock) in which he described a great deal of Vulcan culture. One thing I remember was that there was a form of recreation in which a Vulcan had to walk out into the desert, being mindful of every step and all the details...he then had to find his way back, using the exact same steps, in the pitch darkness.

Despite Vulcans suppressing their emotions they still express strong emotional attachment to valued family and friends. Spock to Kirk, Tuvok to Janeway, etc. And in the Field of Fire episode the Vulcan Lieutenant became psychotic because everyone he cared about was killed.

_"It's life Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, not as we know it._ _It's life Jim, but not as we know, not as we know it, captain."_ - Spöck

We love your videos! Bless you! Yes I got the joke. Forge....

I've always been scratching my head on how a Human/Vulcan hybrid even works, due to the extreme differences in biochemistry.

Do Breen, but I would like to see a Cultural Index for Bajorans.

I think a good way to understand the relationship a Vulcan has to emotions is basically this: They are in complete control of their emotions, rather than their emotions being in control of them. They have emotion, but they don't allow the emotions to do the thinking. Logic guides the heart, rather than letting the heart run wild. Tuvok clearly cares for Janeway and Spock clearly cares for Kirk. But they would never let these emotions override their higher thinking. Their logic keeps their feelings in their proper place. Humans, we often times let our emotions guide our actions. But see I think that's why humans and Vulcans work so well together. They're two sides of the same coin. Vulcans are guided by logic, where as humans are more so guided by emotion. When the two work together, they can find the proper balance and end up with better solutions than either race could achieve on their own. It's fortune then that Vulcans were the first species humans made contact with, and this balanced relationship is probably one reason why the federation ended up become such a success.

T'Pol? Mating cycle? Where's my battle axe, Qtip thingy? Hold my beer.

The most obvious contradiction is that prior to logic Vulcans were a primitive tribal society. Except the Romulans had STL spacecraft in enough quantity to transport a large segment of the population elsewhere. So they were sophisticated and organized enough to built a fleet of long range STL spacecraft. Something beyond our current capability. So they couldn't have been too badly off. The idea that their planet experienced multiple nuclear wars isn't supported by their biology as a few tens of thousands of years wouldn't have allowed them to adapt. Now on the other hand if modern Vulcans were genetically engineered and wiped out the original Vulcans that would explain a lot and the revisionist history was a cover up of that genocide. A parallel to what happened on Earth in the setting.

Wait a second, isn't nerve pinch basically the mythical Chinese "点穴" technique?

The Silence, as much as I love the Breen the Silence are much cooler and much more frightening

9:25 Good for the writers ironically, since life is full of contrasts!

If you go with the Breen, check out the trial-sequences at the beginning and end of ST IV: There are some aliens in the background who look like early versions of the Breen. Maybe they were once some kind of associate members of the Federation (allies, but not fully integrated) and chose to leave at one point? (Breexit, anyone?😄) Great video about the Vulcans! Thank you for this! But let's forget about the "logic-extremists", shall we? There's nothing logical about them.

I got the "Forge" joke!

I love your vulcan videos. They’re always in depth and well planned

You should definitely start with the Breen, never turn your back on a Breen!

I found this video fascinating.

Thank you! That was a very concise, thoughtful approach to this culture. You did very well! Definitely will listen to this again.

I think the Romulan Cultural Index needs an update as well. Given the lore we get from Picard.

Great video, well played especially the end. Thank you for posting!

I waited for this !! My favourite races are the Andorians and the Vulcan. Thanks

Love your content admiral Rick from a trekie since 86 live long and prosper

We appreciate you doing better. You thought you could, you verbalized it, and you follow through👍

Admittedly, my knowledge is limited to the original run of Star Trek series & the movies, with ST: Enterprise being the most recent series, & ST: Nemesis being the most recent movie. During my Trek fandom period, I read the official novels set in TV & movie periods for TOS, NextGen, DS9 & Voyager; & I had an extensive library of tie-in books, blueprints & maps published during the same period. I always assumed Vulcan had various subcultures, partly regional (as on Earth) & partly philosophical. My takeaway from the various Vulcan personality types met during the franchise, coupled with things Surak told Archer in the episode where they met, was that Surak was teaching his people a philosophy of MODERATION, rather than pure logic & suppression of emotion. This means the practitioners of Kolinahr are extremists. One thing I really appreciated in ST:Enterprise was the way that Vulcans were not our familiar Vulcans. By that point in the show, it had been established that the Vulcan default methodology was slow & methodical. That was the point of contention between Vulcan & Earth. The Vulcans in that show were not used to regular interaction with brash, emotional species. Spock's grandmother T'Pau was a young woman, T'Pol's contemporary. The children alive during the events of Enterprise were the first generation to whom this alliance was normal. T'Pol was a Vulcan trailblazer, demonstrating how it was possible that 2 such dissimilar species could live & work together. Intrepid likely had an all-Vulcan crew because Vulcan culture was still adapting to the Federation. In the 23rd Century, the Federation was only about a century old. Slow, methodical cultures need time to adapt. This' why we didn't see multiple Vulcans fully integrated into multi-species crews until the late 23rd Century/early 24th Century!

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Very well done I did learn a few new things and I feel the addition of Star Trek's Enterprise help to bring them to a more in-depth look at the race.

Awesome video. I'm totally nerding out right now.

Breen the apocrypha is so interesting

Damn, now this is bloody good video. One of the best put up yet. One can write a thesis based on it :D

What I love about the Vulcans is that they show how spirituality and ritual aren't necessarily 'illogical', since they can be means to an end. If they're the best way of achieving those ends, then these practices are, by definition, logical. We know as a matter of psychological fact that ritual practices are a great way of focusing the mind, help to make life more structured, and can help us to achieve a state of calm. They can also be used to help to create social cohesion (as in Confucian philosophy). Similarly with spirituality, if spirituality is defined in a loose non-supernatural sense. Meditation, again, is something we know has many psychological benefits, and the benefits of these practices to a people like the Vulcans are obvious.

The Silence joke was brilliant.

I just noticed that humans and Vulcans would’ve met on my birthday night

This was SO GOOD !!!! GOLD STANDARD TREK VIDEO. 🏅

Genuinely enjoyable

This was amazing to watch!

Very well done.

I always wondered if the “my mind to your mind” was necessary for the process of a mind meld, or if it just helped the person/people involved to focus and make it easier

Very informative!!!

The silence sounds like fun, and I liked the little skit. :-)

one of my favourite Voyager episode is the one where Tuvok and Tom Paris get stranded on a planet with only one other person, and Tuvok and that alien woman basically fall in love and he just cant let himself buckle to the feeling even though its clear that it lingers between them. Twas a good one.

Excellent presentation

I just love stuff about the Trek universe!!

I don’t want to vote for the Breen, but I can’t remember what the other option was. (What I’m saying is do the Silence)

Nice reference with how the silence make your forget as soon as your not looking at them btw

How do Human in Trek constantly beat up Vulcans and Klingons?

Fascinating.

Great video! I'm guessing Vulcans prefer to fly on Delta whilst here on Earth.

Hi thank you very much for your information.

Whats funny is how vulcans in fact use emotions all the time, so they really don’t suppress as they choose to use logic more so than emotion, but still a lot of their decisions and they things they do, the things they wear or how they act aren’t based on logic sometimes but in fact emotional things.

I love on Enterprise that one Vulcan told Archer That The Vulcans Feared the the Humans, because Humans have managed to do in just 50 years what took the vulcans 1500 years to accomplish. that is why they kept holding back warp technologies from the Humans for along time, and why Archer hated them for it.

Yes, this is amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed your Surak Vulcan Dad joke at the beginning of the vid. lol

Great video mate

Its worth noting that there where groups of vulcans who did permit themselves to explore emotions without too much drama (well except mind-rape dude), and while they where somewhat oppressed under the old vulcan high command, after the events of ST:ENT its not clear the more liberal Vulcan high command that emerged would have continued the suppression. Certainly mind melds apparently had become permitted, including with other humanoids (which would have unavoidably led to exposure to strong emotion).

I just realized how similar the history and nature of Vulcans are to Klingons. Only the Klingons overembraced their impulses and destructive feelings while the Vulcans totally suppressed them. They're like the two extreme answers to one and the same emotional problem. Plus they're both stronger than humans and have strong ties to rituals and spirituality. They could easily have switched positions, it was just historic events that made one race the explorers and the other the invaders.

A very logically made video.

As of Star Trek Picard Romulans and Android's can now Mind-Meld.

omg, loved it!

There is an inconsistancy in Vulcan physiology. On a slightly higher gravity planet than Earth, one could think that the heart would better placed higher in the body than where they put it. It would beneficiate more from gravity and less have to fight against it, just like giraffes' hearts are at the base of the neck. So having the heart this low makes no sense. You could still consider that a vulcan heart would be on average bigger and stronger than a human heart by comparison, but still. I understand they wanted to include exotic features to make the species more alien, but they are still bipedal mammals with the same basic architecture just slightly stronger and more efficient organs due to more arid environment, so yeah, they could have had the heart at the same place and shape than humans, it wouldn't make any difference on the fact their blood is chemically different anyway and have other features specific to their evolution... As for Sarek, we could think that Sarek has a fetish on human females since at Amanda's death he remarries with another human female, Perrin instead of chosing a Vulcan (perhaps also because it would mean that the Vulcan female would either have to be the same age or they that they wouldn't be able to age at the same rythm. Another idea is that him being on Earth has played a role in his choice because close proximity made him prefer human females because they were the only ones near him during his Pon Farr and that possible Vulcan female colleagues would already be married.

I’ve always though that the Breen were a conglomeration of races and people, who simply chose to become Breen, and so wore the uniform, which provided them a perfect atmosphere and comfort. The Breen allowed some member species to be revealed early on to throw off the conceptions others had, and so people assumed the suits were refrigeration types and the beings within possessed no blood, which was actually only true for one of them.

The Breen next, please!

I never understood how the vulcans must always suppress their emotions because they are so self-destructive and romulans are just fine being very paranoid. They have a bigger empire and better tech also.

They have soul mates too. Or at least they have a word for a soul mate.

I'm surprised that Vulcans don't have a higher rate of various infections (respiratory and integumentary) in more humid climates.

The Vulcans of Star Trek much like the Jedi in Star Wars practice stringent emotional control because they fear what they can become if their emotions are left unchecked. Personally think a Vulcan would make the perfect Jedi or one of the most powerful Sith Lords of all time.

Such a Rich culture.

I find myself preferring the history and lore of Vulcans as was written in the novel Spock's World and some additional details in Sarek. Both very good books to read.

from a star trek cannon book the vulcans are known as the T'Khasi and the planet Charon is known as T'Khuts. but the T'Khasians took on the name of Vulcan that the Humans gave them from mythology

Who should be in the next video, The Silence or the Breen? Me, "Yes."

How would the inner eyelid protect the eye when it's open though? That's when the real damage would be done

Trip and T'Pol def got it on.

i think the most frightening aspect of ancient Vulcan were the mind lords or those with incredibly destructive psionic abilities. As referenced in the stone of gol

Breen!!

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Nice ending...

peace, and long life.

Please do a video on the Breen!

just watched this Vid its Brilliant but you forgot to put the second option up after the Breen

I have to make something clear, We didn’t encountered the Vulcans they encountered us.

So many stagnant civilizations and cultures occupy the Star Trek universe.

i posit that suppressing all emotion is in itself an emotionally driven action.

The Breen!

When humans turn Earth into Vulcan, we’ll basically go down the same path.

Right off the bat, some buildings in a desolate supposed wasteland.

Does anyone know if the Diane Duane novel _Spock's World_ is considered canon? It's a great read and has a lot of history on Vulcan mutations such as the protective inner eyelid and the rise of some of their 'psychic' powers. It also takes a look at (way) pre-Sarek Vulcan culture, possible in a time frame analogous to our pre-history when we shared the planet with Neanderthals. There is also a current time plot line concerning a movement on Vulcan for succession from the Federation, but I found that to be secondary to all the early history details. I've read it several times and it never fails to entertain.

I appreciated the blacksmith joke